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Weird Menace: The 1930s rise of the Shudder Pulps followed by the rise of the forces that ended them and transformed horror on the newsstand.
Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Matt Baker, St. John Publications
Reform School Girl and Matt Baker Art, Teen-Age Temptations at Auction
St. John published its own Reform School Girl just a year after the notorious Avon version, launching its Teen-Age Temptations romance title.
Article Summary
- Explore the Pre-Code era's notorious 'Reform School Girl' comics and themes.
- St. John's 'Reform School Girl' variant launched the 'Teen-Age Temptations' series.
- Iconic artist Matt Baker's cover art opened the series with a story of risky romance.
- 'Teen-Age Temptations' series evolved to 'Going Steady' amid the 1950s moral panic.
One of the most notorious comic book titles of the Pre-Code era, Avon's Reform School Girl (1951), used the original cover photo from Diversey Publishing Co. digest-sized paperback House of Fury (1948), along with that book's theme. In the words of the comic's cover blurb, it is "The graphic story of boys and girls running wild in the violence-ridden slums of today. This is the story of youth gone wrong… and the penalty hundreds of pretty girls have to pay when they allow themselves to fall victim to unscrupulous men, their own wayward emotions, and the hidden pitfalls of a sensation-crazed society."
Curiously, the year after Avon published this one-shot title, St. John chose to do its own version of Reform School Girl, titled exactly that, to help launch its Teen-Age Temptations romance title. Drawn by artist Ric Estrada from a script by an unknown writer, in this variation on the theme the Reform School Girl in question actually does reform straight out of reform school. She settles into a good life, only to have her past associations find her and try to drag her down again. But as with the Avon original, things eventually work out in the end.
Matt Baker's cover is based on the interior story Out for No Good, by unknown creators, about a woman whose social life involved an increasing amount of risk. Baker and also contributed the artwork for the story Tourist Cabin Escapade, which was scripted by regular St. John romance writer Dana Dutch. This one is about a small-town girl who regrets an out-of-town liaison.
Teen-Age Temptations joined a growing line of ST. John Romance titles in 1952, but with a title like that was destined to be short lived as the 1950s entered the moral panic era. The series was renamed to the more conservative Going Steady after nine issues. Each one of those nine issues features a noteworthy Matt Baker cover, beginning with a debut issue that includes Reform School Girl and much more
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